Ron Kolm reads from Welcome to the Barbecue

Ron Kolm came over to my place on Sunday to read from his new book, Welcome to the Barbecue, short poems that chronicle a romance that are both personal and universal, and very precise and clear in poems so small. Ron Kolm will tell you that he does very little for the poetry scene in New York City, but this is far from the truth—he has been archiving the flyers and books, all the minutiae of the downtown poetry scene for decades now at the NYU library, and I’d be willing to bet that it is the most concise, pertinent and extant collection of its type anywhere in the world. He is not only a mover and shaker, he is an underpinning, part of the foundation that supports the publishing of poetry and organizing readings too. Ron Kolm is one of the reasons poetry is thriving in New York City.…

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From Welcome to the Barbecue:

Weekend

The day is warm and bright.
We lie in the sun
Sipping our drinks—
Our fingers barely touching.

Self-help

Thinking of ways
To improve his life
He enters his wife
Absentmindedly.

Death in Köln

After the air raid
I buried my friends
Under bouquets
I rescued from
A burning church.

Make Love, Not War

Knowing that one can love
And perhaps be loved in return
It seems a miracle to me
That men still fly
Over mountains to kill.

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…Welcome to the Barbecue is published by Autonomedia. You can check them out here: